Maximum Standard Length

Surface dimensions of 60 ∗ 30 cm or equivalent should be the minimum considered for long-term care although smaller aquaria can be used for breeding.

Maintenance

Best kept in a densely-planted aquarium or paludarium with some overhanging vegetation, roots or branches important if you wish to raise fry alongside the adults (see ‘Reproduction’).

Floating vegetation is also useful since this species appears to prefer relatively dim conditions and spends much of its time in the upper part of the water column.

The addition of dried leaf litter further emphasises the natural feel and as well as offering additional cover for the fish brings with it the growth of microbe colonies as decomposition occurs.

These can provide a valuable secondary food source for fry and the tannins and other chemicals released by the decaying leaves are also considered beneficial for fishes from blackwater environments. Alder cones may also be used for the latter purpose.

The water should be well-oxygenated with a little surface agitation advisable.

Do not add this fish to a biologically immature aquarium as it can be susceptible to swings in water chemistry.

Water Conditions

Diet

In the aquarium it will accept dried foods of a suitable size but should also be offered daily meals of small live and frozen fare such as Artemianauplii, Moina, grindal worm, etc.

Small insects such as crickets or Drosophila fruit flies are also suitable to use although it’s best to fill the stomachs of these by feeding them fish flakes or some kind of vegetable matter before offering them to the fish.

Sexual Dimorphism

This species is quite common in the aquarium trade although normally misidentified as the congeners C. nattereri or the very similar C. meinkeni.

It was considered synonymous with C. nattereri for a number of years and was also referred to as C. cf. meinkeni by Zarske and Géry (2006) before being revalidated by Zarske (2011).

The identity of C. nattereri was resolved by Zarske and Géry (2006) and it can easily be told apart from C. callolepis and C. meinkeni by presence (vs. absence) of a dark lateral stripe on each side of the body.

C. callolepis differs from C. meinkeni by presence (vs. absence) of a black triangular marking in the ventral rays of the lower caudal-fin lobe, five or six rows of blue-black to dark brownish-red (vs. bright red) spots on the body and a smaller adult size with the largest specimen known measuring 41.5 mm SL (vs. 45.1 mm).

The genus Copella can be told apart from the closely-related Pyrrhulina by aspects of head morphology plus possession of only one (vs. two) row of conical teeth in the premaxillary.

The family Lebiasinidae is included in the order Characiformes and sometimes split into the nominal subfamilies Lebiasininae and Pyrrhulininae, though there has not been a major review of the grouping in recent times.

All lebiasinid genera possess a relatively long, elongate body shape with 17-33 scales in the lateral series and laterosensory canal system absent or reduced to 7 scales or less.

Some species have an adipose fin while others do not, and the anal-fin has a relatively short base of 13 scales or less.

In the majority of members males have an enlarged or otherwise well-developed anal-fin used in courtship and spawning.

The frontal/parietal fontanelle is always absent, the cheek well-covered by the orbital and opercular bones, the supraoccipital crest is absent, and the scales of the dorsal body begin over the parietal bones.

Characiformes is among the most diverse orders of freshwater fishes currently including close to 2000 valid species distributed among 19 families.

This tremendous taxonomical and morphological diversity has historically impaired the ability of researchers to resolve their genetic relationships with many genera remaining incertae sedis.

A further limiting factor has been that in many cases exhaustive study of these on an individual basis is the only way to resolve such problems.

Modern molecular phylogenetic techniques have allowed some headway, though, and a research paper by Calcagnotto et al. published in 2005 revealed some interesting hypotheses.

Their results suggest that Lebiasinidae forms a trans-atlantic, monophyleticclade alongside the families Ctenoluciidae and Hepsetidae, this clade further forming a sister group to Alestidae.

Others such as Oliveira et al. (2011) have concluded that the family Erythrinidae is also closely-related to this grouping with Hepsetidae and Alestidae more distant.

References

Regan, C. T., 1912 - Annals and Magazine of Natural History (Series 8) v. 10 (no. 58): 387-395A revision of the South American characid fishes of the genera Chalceus, Pyrrhulina, Copeina, and Pogonocharax.

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